


When the World Stops Moving

by silentdescant



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Claustrophobia, Elevators, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Insomnia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-24
Updated: 2009-05-24
Packaged: 2017-10-21 21:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silentdescant/pseuds/silentdescant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard and Frank get stuck in an elevator.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the World Stops Moving

Frank herded Gerard into the elevator right as the doors were closing. The other guys were too far behind for them to bother with holding the elevator, so Frank just pushed the button for their floor and leaned his shoulder against Gerard's. Gerard was holding onto the sticky, silver handrail, the wall at his back and Frank pinning him into the corner. He sighed.

"We don't have much time," Frank was saying when Gerard tuned back in. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs and tried to focus. "Maybe you can sleep for an hour or something, but we have to be ready to go by six. The flight--"

He was interrupted by the elevator making a grinding noise and stuttering to a shaky stop. There was a loud clang and the lights flickered twice and shut off; the emergency fluorescents blinked on, erasing all shadows from the once-cozy elevator. The dark wood paneling now looked incredibly fake, and Gerard could see the shadows under Frank's eyes clearly. He didn't think they were from left-over makeup.

Frank's left hand was tight around the railing, his knuckles pressing into Gerard's side. He shouted several variations on "what the fuck?" and then moved to knock loudly on the door. There was no reply. Frank checked his cell, but they were in a metal box inside a concrete tube; there was no signal. Frank tried the door again.

"Frank," Gerard said quietly, a few minutes later.

"Motherfuckers," Frank yelled, kicking the door now. "Get us out."

"Frank, stop."

"What?"

"They'll fix it," Gerard explained. He sighed and slid down the wall to sit with his knees tucked in towards his chest. "And if they haven't got us by now, it'll probably be a while."

"Shit," Frank hissed. "Fuck that." He turned back to the door and pounded on it with his fist. "Get me the fuck out!"

"Either they can't hear you or they can; either way they're fixing it as fast as they can." Gerard closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the ugly paneling. "Frank, we're stuck in an elevator, not moving for the first time in months. Can we just..." he trailed off sleepily. "Can we just rest?"

Frank grunted and Gerard listened as he paced around the small space. It only took him three steps to cross from Gerard's left to his right, and then back again. Back and forth, back and forth. Gerard opened his eyes. Frank was grumbling under his breath, his face contorted with frustration, and his hands were tight fists inside the pockets of his hoodie.

"Frankie," Gerard said. Frank didn't acknowledge him. "Frankie," Gerard said again, louder.

"Shut up," Frank mumbled. "If you wanna go to sleep, fucking go to sleep."

Gerard didn't want to, not after that comment, but his eyes slipped closed against his will. He listened to Frank pace for another moment, drawing in harsh, syncopated breaths in time with his steps. Gerard could feel the welcome blankness of sleep at the fringes of his consciousness and wanted so badly to give in, just for a little while.

But then Frank hissed, "Motherfucking _fuck_ ," and Gerard opened his eyes blearily. Frank was leaning against the doors waving his hands wildly. When he finally stopped flailing around, Gerard saw the blood on the side of his hand.

"What--"

"Motherfucking door fucking cut me--"

"Frank--"

"No, I--"

"Frank, _stop_." Gerard lifted his head and stared Frank down.

Frank's face smoothed and he took a deep breath. "I'm freaking out, aren't I?"

"Little bit."

Frank nodded quickly and took another breath. Then another. Gerard leaned his head back against the wall, but he didn't want to close his eyes again, not yet. Frank returned to pacing, timing his breaths with his steps again. The rhythm was too fast to be normal, though. Gerard reached out and caught the torn leg of Frank's jeans, stopping him from taking the last step towards the wall.

"Frankie."

Frank looked down at him, visibly forced himself to relax, and sat collapsed gracefully to his knees. Years of playing in odd positions and hurting himself while flailing around had made the movement look natural, even though it had to hurt his bare knees.

"I'm sorry--"

"Calm down, Frankie," Gerard murmured. "Seriously, just try to sleep or something. I'm so..."

They were silent for a few seconds, then Frank leaned into Gerard's space and said, "You're so what?"

Gerard blinked quickly to make his eyes focus on Frank's blurry face. "What?" He couldn't remember what he'd been talking about.

"You said you're so... and then you just stopped," Frank said. His voice was higher than usual, and faster. He was still on edge, not relaxing.

"I'm so tired," Gerard said. Maybe that's what he'd been trying to say before. Frank nudged him in the side and Gerard realized he'd been zoning out again. He shook his head but that only made his vision blur. "Fuck, I need to sleep, Frankie," he mumbled. Frank's shoulder was kind of too short to lay his head on, but Gerard slouched over and did so anyway. "Oh _god_."

"Gee?" Frank asked quietly. His arm came up automatically around Gerard's shoulders and Gerard snuggled into him a little, even though he was bony and too thin and not very comfortable as a pillow. "Gee, what--"

"Shhhhhh," Gerard sighed. "Sleep. Please, Frankie."

"No, Gee, please don't leave me alone," Frank said timidly. His fingertips pressed into Gerard's shoulder.

Gerard lifted a hand and patted Frank's cheek blindly. He felt Frank's lips beneath his thumb and shifted over. "Count your blessings. Someone will get us out soon, and there aren't any spiders."

"Jesus fuck, Gerard!" Frank shouted, whipping around as if a spider might sneak up on him. Gerard banged his head against the wall and barely caught himself before hitting the floor. "What the fuck?"

"There aren't any spiders," Gerard said. "It was supposed to be comforting."

"Fuck that, now I'm paranoid," Frank shot back. He stood up. "Fucking get me out of here," he yelled at the door. He hit it with his open hand and it made a loud slapping sound; Frank yanked his hand away and cradled it to his chest. "Fuck, that hurt. Fuck. FUCK."

" _Frank_." Gerard rubbed his face. "Sit down before I fucking punch you."

"You hit like a girl." Frank crossed his arms and started pacing again.

"You're scared of spiders."

"You're scared of _needles_."

"Sit the fuck down and chill the fuck out, Frank," Gerard said exasperatedly. "My brain... Seriously, Frank, I can't deal with this right now, I can't even keep my fucking eyes open, please, just sit with me and wait. Rest."

Surprisingly, Frank sat down. Gerard cuddled up next to him and wrapped and arm around Frank's waist to keep him still. He could hear Frank's heartbeat thudding too fast beneath his ribs and his chest rose a lot but barely fell at all. Gerard stroked his hand over Frank's stomach, then slipped it beneath Frank's shirt to touch his skin.

"It's okay, calm down. No spiders. People will come."

"I'm okay, I'm... I'm calm," Frank lied. "You should rest, you look like a fucking zombie, Gerard."

"Frankie, you're exhausted," Gerard countered. "It's making you freak out. Just close your eyes, just for a minute, just rest with me, please."

Frank sighed. "Okay," he said. Gerard fell asleep almost instantly. He woke up to Frank's insistent nudging and low whisper in his ear. "Gee, wake up, c'mon. We're moving. Wake up. The elevator's fixed, we're moving, wake up, Gee, c'mon."

Gerard opened his eyes. He was still tired--he would probably still be tired next _month_ , when the tour finally ended--but things weren't blurry around the edges now, and he could keep his eyes fully open without concentrating so hard. He couldn't really tell if the elevator was moving or not, but Frank seemed pretty sure of himself.

Then the elevator lurched to a stop and dinged loudly. Gerard noticed then that the fluorescent lights had turned off, the usual, dimmer lights were back on, and the elevator looked fancy and high-class again. Even Frank's skin seemed less pale and more golden. The doors slid slowly open and Frank jumped to his feet.

Bob Bryar was standing out in the hallway. Frank pounced on him, wrapping his legs around Bob's waist, and kissed his cheek soundly.

"Bob Bryar, thank God in heaven," he murmured.

"Where's the rest of your band?" Bob asked. Gerard used the handrail to pull himself up and shrugged. "How long were you guys in there?" Again, Gerard shrugged. "Brian's been looking for you all."

"At least somebody was," Gerard muttered. "What happened?"

"Power went out," Bob explained. "Stupid cheap hotel has something fucked up: it was only this building that lost power. Frank, can you--"

Frank reluctantly slid to the floor, though he kept clinging onto Bob's hoodie. "You saved us," he said adoringly. "I love you."

"You gonna start paying me, then?" Bob asked teasingly.

"Fuck no," Gerard replied. " _We_ don't even get paid, dude."

Brian appeared from around the corner. When he spotted them, a look of intense relief passed briefly over his face. Frank let go of Bob and latched onto Brian.

"Brian!" he cried happily. "We were stuck for forever and Gerard made me stop freaking out and Bob saved us and you were looking for us and I love you and can we never stay in tall buildings ever again, please?"

Brian disentangled himself and rolled his eyes. "No promises," he said simply. Bob laughed. Frank, left adrift, turned back to Gerard and climbed onto his back. Gerard almost collapsed under him, but Bob caught him by the shoulder to keep him upright.

"I love you too, Gee, y'know?" Frank whispered, his mouth very close to Gerard's ear.

"Come on," Bob said, "let's go find the rest of your band."

Frank hopped down and left his arm around Gerard's neck to hold him close. Gerard leaned on Frank as they followed Brian and Bob down the hallway. "This hotel better be giving us free drinks," he muttered.

"I dunno, Gee," Frank said, "I think I'd rather have working elevators."

  
 _fin_.


End file.
